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Thursday, 27 September 2012

Hi Sophie/Dom/Warren, where to start! I arrived home last night,
after an epic train ride from Southampton to Loughborough and it is
slowly starting to sink in what has happened.

Best start at the beginning...

Training

When
I signed up for Bike to Bestival I didn't have a bicycle that was
working ( I did have 2 broken ones) and hadn't cycled for a year. But I
couldn't resist. Then I saw the people on the facebook group and some of
them looked accomplished cyclists, so I decided I had to train for
this. I can remember rainy, cold mornings, getting out the door at 6am
and cycling a 15 mile loop before work ( http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/morning-ride-via-sileby
) which was tough going. I pushed on and later decided to ride half the
way to Leicester and back on Route 6, changed my mind and rode the
whole way and made it back. I cycled 25 miles! Before work! I was
hooked. I kept going and after a few weeks this was just something I did
and enjoyed. The last weekend before leaving I did a run out to Derby,
took a cider fuelled detour along this route (
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Loughborough-Derby-Nottingham-Loughborough-Loop
) up to Beeston and turned back again. I must have covered 80 miles,
which is a long way from the 15 miles I struggled to do weeks earlier.

The Ride

I
was thinking about asking to lead a group for ages and was put off by
the ride through London. I hadn't cycled in London for 5 years and
wasn't sure how I would handle it. I spoke to a friend, who said I would
be great at it, so I signed up. Then
I panicked...I didn't know the route well, or have a GPS or smartphone,
what if we got lost! A week before leaving I fell ill with a chest
infection, I tried cycling 5 miles and threw up 10 times, clearly, even I
had to admit I was ill. 2 days in bed whilst going over the route on
Google Street view and I just knew the London part of the route. I
didn't look at the directions or map from Lambeth Palace to Walton on
Thames and if I close my eyes I can still see it. My team were a very
interesting, mixed bunch from "Oscar" a bike courier on a fixie who
spent the first part of the ride steering with his knees and listening
to music to Amanda who hadn't cycled long distances before but was
always smiling.

I absolutely loved the ride through London, especially
Richmond Park. There was so much to see on the way...

The
afternoon ride was tough for me, I was up at 4.30am to catch an early
train to London with my bike and was shattered. I was dehydrating
without realising it and the last hour through Alice Holt I dashed into a
pub holding my now empty water bottle in front of me. The barman smiled
and filled it up, without any words being exchanged and even added ice.
We pushed on through this last bit and arrived at the site as one
group.

My
sister came to meet me at Mellow Farm and the evening around the
campfire singing was like a dream, I was so tired but had to stay....

Day 2

The
next day we got ready and I decided we should all wear the Cancer
Research T-shirts to bond the now larger group ( image attached - this
picture is going on my wall). I also announced there was a gold medal up
for grabs for the Bestest Cyclist. We set off and Tom, who just joined
us, knew the route, as he lived locally. It was good for me to just
relax and enjoy the cycling. We stopped for a break before the 10 miles
on the A32 and stopped at a pub for a well earned cider ( my bicycle
runs on cider and porridge - very low carbon) which Iain kindly bought
me. It was fun relaxing in a beer garden, watching the ducks, lying in
the sun and not sitting on a saddle ( my bike has earned a
new Brookes one :-).

We
carried on and finally arrived at Southampton! I had a pint with Iain
and soaked up the sun, let the sweat evaporate and felt relief that we
were nearly there. The grinding out the miles bit was over and the fun
was on the horizon...

On the way from the ferry I snagged my arm on a bramble and really didn't care. I have had a few cycling cuts in my time...

We
cycled to the site and I had no idea of how to get there, other than it
was uphill. It was tricky getting into the site as there was no bike
park and they
didn't know who we were but I pushed through with a combination of
charm, anger and blagging.

We
met at 4pm to open the Festival, did I say we were OPENING BESTIVAL and
I got chatting to a lady who about as old as my mum and was interested
in what we were doing. We spoke for ages about her cycling ( 20 miles
each weekend - more than I could do when I started training ) and she
asked if Rob da Bank was coming to watch. I said that maybe he was busy,
she told me she was his Mum! I looked down at her pass and recognised
the surname Gorman. If you are reading this Rob, you have a very cool
mum. Going backstage was amazing and exciting, I was tingling all over,
we were opening on the stage that Hot Chip were playing on later that
evening :-) We all sang our hearts out and it was awesome. After we
all got very drunk and chatted and drank more beer.......

Bestival - hasn't sunk in yet.....

After
Bestival finished, I got up early on the Monday and cycled with all my
gear, in the rain to the Waverley where I spent the next 5 nights. I
cycled all over the North east part of the island and saw Red Squirrels,
Donkeys,
Pigs, Horses, Castles, Bookshops, Monks, Beaches, Bike Shops, Forests,
Portsmouth, Old Rosie Cider, Proper Breakfasts, Energy Bars and had an
amazing time but that is another story..........sorry but my allotment
is calling me and those Sweetcorn won't pick themselves...

Sunday, 16 September 2012

Yesterday Dominic and I attended the Cancer Research UK
London Fundraisers Forum.

We were joined by the CRUK London Area Volunteer Managers
and other fundraisers from across the region, ranging from individuals
organising one-off events to groups and committees which have been fundraising
for up to 30 years.

It was a fascinating day and a great reminder of why we
put so much work into making ‘Bike to Bestival’ a success.

We heard some amazing statistics:

·97% of men who get testicular cancer now survive

·Cancer Research UK spent £332million on research
last year

·£650,000 was raised in the London and Surrey
areas by volunteers alone!

·Cancer Research UK funds 50% of all research into
Cancer in the UK and they get no government funding.

Cancer Research UK had a funding gap of £30million last
year though, so what does this mean?

Essentially they had research programmes which had gone
through the vetting process which they believed would contribute to the fight
against cancer, however they were £30million short of funds to pay for them.

This all reminds us of how important projects like ours
are to Cancer Research UK.

So to all of you who took part in ‘Bike to Bestival 2012’
a big big thankyou from the three of us and the staff at Cancer Research
UK.We were invited to this event as we
are raising so much money for their cause and they all took the opportunity to
pass on their thanks.

We would particularly like to mention Andrew and Max who
have blown us away with their amazing fundraising. You’ve more than made up for
your lack of musical ability guys!!

Lastly, if you haven’t heard of ‘Stand up to Cancer’ yet,
then watch this space.

On Friday October 19th 2012 there will be a
live TV event on Channel 4.Watch a
taster of what to expect on the YouTube link below.They are also on facebook and twitter so
don’t forget to follow them.

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

Over the coming days/weeks it'd be great to get your stories and experiences up on the blog. If you could mail them to biketobestival@bestival.net that's be great. There are still a few posts to get up here, but for now I'd just like to say a few words.

Firstly, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to meet, travel and perform with you guys. You are all brilliant and beautiful people. As it was explained to me over the weekend, there was always a chance that we'd all get along (Think of a Venn diagram with three circles "Likes Cycling", "Wants to go to Bestival" and "Wants to perform music"... we were that crossover.). That said you were all nicer and more helpful people than we could have hoped for..

Secondly, we raised a lot of money for Cancer Research UK through our justgiving page. (If you have only just found us there is a newly created team donation page here to keep that seperate from the individual fundraising. Please donate there.) This is a great thing to do and you should all be very proud.

And finally... THANKS!!! (That's a massive thanks) to Ros, Peter and Mike (For cooking, driving and general anything-we-needed help)...Legendary volumes of cheese sandwiches.

I'd also like to thank Veleco (for our t-shirts and hats and generally being nice), Cocofina (for donating lots of coconut water) and Dovesfarm (for donating enough cereal for all of us). This all helped us keep the costs down for all the riders.

That's all for now. It's be lovely to hear your trip reports or thoughts and I hope to see you all soon.